


Small Miracles

by KaskardenFluvia



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: 1814, Established Relationship, Fluff, Historical Inaccuracy, Historical References, Ice Skating, Implied Relationships, Listen they are a couple alright they just don't kiss in this that's all, London Frost Fair, M/M, mild homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 21:58:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16416734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaskardenFluvia/pseuds/KaskardenFluvia
Summary: “Angel, we had ice skates made for you.” Crowley told him.“I’m sure we’ll find someone who can make better use of them.” He replied. Crowley rolled his eyes in annoyance.***Set at the last London Frost Fair in 1814





	Small Miracles

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back with a new story!

“I’m not going to do that.” Aziraphale said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Crowley raised an eyebrow. 

“But we came here so you’d get the opportunity to.” He reminded him. Aziraphale shrugged. 

“Still, I’d rather not.” He admitted. “I’ve changed my mind.” 

“Angel, we had ice skates _made_ for you.” Crowley told him, gesturing at the new boots on Aziraphale’s feet. The angel shrugged again. 

“I’m sure we’ll find someone who can make better use of them.” He replied. Crowley rolled his eyes in annoyance. 

“At least try it once.” He pleaded. He was already getting uncomfortably cold, despite the heavy coat, scarf and mittens he was wearing. If he didn’t start moving soon Aziraphale would have to carry him home. Being cold-blooded was extremely impractical in winter. 

The angel shook his head, arms still crossed in front of him. He was standing on the riverside, already wearing the skates and even though he managed to balance on them pretty well he refused to take a step forward onto the ice. 

“What are you so scared of?” Crowley asked. “There is no risk of breaking through the ice.” He stomped his foot on the thick layer of ice covering the river a few times to prove his point. 

“I know that I won’t break in.” Aziraphale huffed. “I’m just scared of falling, that’s all.” 

Crowley had to laugh involuntarily. 

“The angel is afraid of falling.” He chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ve fallen before, it’s not _that_ bad.” He couldn’t completely hide the bitterness in his voice. “Besides, I promise I’ll catch you when you fall.” 

“ _When_ I fall?” Aziraphale asked, raising his eyebrows. Crowley laughed again. 

“Yes, angel, _when._ It’s inevitable.” He answered, holding out his hand to the angel. “But it’s part of the learning process. Come on now, it’s just like dancing. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it once you get the hang of it.” 

“We both know that I’m a terrible dancer.” He scoffed, but took Crowley’s hand regardless, taking a wobbly step forward. Crowley grabbed him by the shoulders as he put his second foot on the ice as well. 

“Just focus on staying upright, okay? I’ll drag you around a bit.” Crowley said, carefully sliding backwards a few feet, dragging Aziraphale with him by the hands. The angel swayed slightly but managed to stay on his feet. Crowley made a gentle turn, making sure that Aziraphale could hold his balance. 

“See? It’s not that hard.” He said after dragging Aziraphale around for a few minutes. 

“Just that I haven’t exactly _done_ anything yet.” The angel muttered. “I don’t see how this is going to help me.” Crowley grinned. 

“Well, in that case, why don’t you try to do something?” He suggested, letting go of Aziraphale’s hands. The angel took a step forward. His skate slid backwards, Aziraphale lost his balance, thrashing his arms around wildly in a futile attempt to regain it. Crowley caught him before he could hit the ground. He laughed. 

“You knew that would happen.” Aziraphale grumbled, scowling up at him as Crowley helped him straighten again.

“Yes, I did.” Crowley admitted, still chuckling. 

“Don’t you think that was kind of cruel?” Aziraphale asked, clearly not amused. Crowley grinned again, tilting his dark glasses down for a split second, flashing his yellow eyes. 

“I’m still a demon, after all.” He answered and the angel rolled his eyes in annoyance. 

“Show me how it’s done correctly then.” He demanded, and Crowley saw the slight smile tugging at his mouth. 

“With pleasure.” He agreed, positioning himself next to the angel. “You just move your feet like _this”_ He demonstrated the movement, pushing himself forward. “And that’s all there is to it. It’s really not that hard.” He stopped and turned towards Aziraphale again. 

The angel watched him closely, took a deep breath and pushed himself forward. His leg slipped away underneath him, his blue eyes widened in shock and Crowley dove in to catch him. 

“Easy there, angel.” He murmured into his ear as he helped him stabilize himself again. Aziraphale nodded, his lips pressed into a tight line, before he tried it a second time. Once again, his leg slipped away, leaving him thrashing to regain his balance. For a second it looked like he was about to fall again, but he somehow manged to get his legs under control again without Crowley’s help. 

“It’s not working.” He grumbled, angrily staring down at his feet.

“That was the second time you tried it and you didn’t even need me to catch you.” Crowley encouraged him. “I’d say you’re improving, actually. Come on, I’ll help you keep your balance, that way you can concentrate on just getting the movements right.” 

He moved behind Aziraphale, putting his gloved hands on his hips. 

“I’ll push you forward and you just keep moving your feet.” He instructed, gently pushing himself forward, sending both him and Aziraphale sliding across the ice. The angel reluctantly followed his instructions, moving his feet to keep them in motion, constantly staring down at the ice. 

He kept stumbling and Crowley noticed that he was growing increasingly frustrated every time the demon had to catch him.

“This is never going to work!” He finally exclaimed through gritted teeth after he had managed to almost fall over his own feet for the second time in thirty seconds. Crowley gently turned him around to face him. 

“You just have to keep trying. You’ll get the hang of it eventually.” He said, but Aziraphale shook his head. 

“No, I won’t.” He snapped, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I want to go home.” 

“Angel…” Crowley said and gently cupped his cheek with one hand. Aziraphale turned his head away. 

“I want to go home, Crowley.” He repeated. 

“I want to try one more thing.” The demon pleaded. “If it doesn’t work we can go home, alright?” 

Aziraphale sighed but he uncrossed his arms. 

“Alright.” He muttered. Crowley smiled at him thankfully. 

“Give me your hands.” He said, taking Aziraphale’s hands in his again. “Now close your eyes.” 

Aziraphale raised an eyebrow.

“Trust me.” Crowley whispered. Hesitantly, the angel closed his eyes. 

“I’m going to drag you forward now.” He told him, slowly starting to move. “Move your feet like I showed you. That’s good.” 

They slid across the ice for a while, Crowley turning them around in a wide curve. 

“Okay, I’m going to let go off you now. You just keep moving your feet.” He demanded. “And keep your eyes closed. Don’t look down at your feet.” Aziraphale nodded and Crowley carefully let go of his hands, sliding out of Aziraphale’s way. The angel kept moving forward. He was still quite wobbly, but he was definitely keeping his balance. 

“You’re doing it!” Crowley exclaimed and Aziraphale started grinning. 

“I’m doing it!” Aziraphale repeated and Crowley felt a wave of warmth wash over him when he heard the excitement in his voice. Then the angel opened his eyes, saw how fast he was moving, looked down at his feet and promptly stumbled, going down faster than Crowley could react. Aziraphale’s knees hit the ice and he yelled out in pain.

“Heaven.” Crowley blessed under his breath as he made his way over to where Aziraphale was kneeling on the ice. “I’m so sorry angel.” 

He helped him onto his feet again. To his surprise Aziraphale didn’t seem angry, his lips curled into a smile instead. 

“Don’t worry, my dear.” He said, reaching down to brush the ice away from the front of his pants. “You specifically told me _not_ to open my eyes.”

“I promised to catch you.” Crowley demurred guiltily. Aziraphale waved it off. 

“It could have been worse. You certainly must know that.” He chuckled and Crowley rolled his eyes. 

“Very funny.” He muttered. Aziraphale laughed. 

“Oh, you know that I’m not trying to be cruel, my dear.” He said, taking Crowley’s hands again. “Now help me get off this cursed ice.” 

“You really want to go home already?” Crowley asked, disappointed. 

“Not home necessarily.” The angel answered. “I just want to get off the ice. There are other things you can do at the frost fair. I’ve heard that there is booth that sells antique books somewhere and I think I would like to pay them a visit.” 

He sounded excited, his eyes lighting up. Crowley sighed. He would never understand Aziraphale’s excitement for old books, but he was all too happy to indulge him. Especially since he had tried to make Crowley happy by going ice skating with him. 

“Alright, old books it is then.” He said, helping Aziraphale get onto solid ground again. He miracled his own ice skates away with a wave of his hand and helped Aziraphale change into his regular boots. 

“I still don’t understand why you don’t just _make_ yourself a pair of shoes.” He muttered as he watched Aziraphale lace up his shoe, balancing on one foot as to not get his socks wet. 

“It’s not the same. I like handmade shoes.” He said, leaning against Crowley to steady himself as he pulled on his other shoe. 

“Yeah, but you could just make a pair of handmade boots appear on your feet. Why go through all of this trouble?” Crowley asked. Aziraphale straightened again, adjusting his coat and putting on his gloves again.

“I feel like we talked about this before.” He said and smiled. “I just don’t like to miracle things. It just feels…lazy.” 

Crowley shook his head, before offering his arm to Aziraphale, who took it, flashing him another bright smile. 

“Let’s go find that bookshop.” Crowley suggested, leading them towards the area where merchants from all over England had put up booths on the thick ice covering the Thames. Luckily for Aziraphale someone had strewn cobblestone across the ice so that you could easily walk on it without slipping. 

It was pleasant to just walk among the people of London in silence, Aziraphale close by his side, tugging him this way or that way to look at what was being sold at different booths. Aziraphale was a hoarder at heart, not just of old and obscure book, but also of all kinds of kitschy decorations (even though he refused to call them kitschy). Recently, he had started collecting little porcelain figurines of angels and excitedly tugged at Crowley’s arm when they passed a booth selling exactly that. Crowley did his best to appear annoyed, rolling his eyes but he couldn’t keep the smile from his face. It was heard to actually be annoyed at Aziraphale when he was being this enthusiastic about something. Crowley could almost feel the happiness radiating of off him. 

“I don’t know how you can even consider buying _these_.” He whispered into his ear as the watched the angel pick up a set of teacups. Each one was lovingly hand-painted, depicting a chubby child with wings. 

“I think they are quite funny.” Aziraphale explained and turned towards the merchant. “How much are these?” 

They were disgustingly expensive and Crowley opened his mouth to argue, but Aziraphale just handed over the money, took his new teacups and quickly dragged Crowley away from the booth. 

“You could have easily gotten them down to half that price.” He muttered and Aziraphale shrugged. 

“It’s not like I have to worry about money.” He responded. “And it made the merchant happy. Who cares if they were overpriced?”

Crowley sighed, shaking his head. 

“You’re just too good for the world.” He murmured, fondly gazing at the Angel by his side. He smiled up at him.

“I’m still an angel, after all.” He replied ang grinned when Crowley rolled his eyes at him. 

Suddenly, a ball of snow hit the back of Aziraphale’s head. Surprised he let go of the teacups, the porcelain shattering when it hit the ice. Crowley whirled around, searching for whoever had thrown the snow ball. 

“Sodomites!” A young man in a black gown screamed and pointed at him. Crowley clenched his fists in anger, a small hiss escaping his lips. Aziraphale tugged at his arm. 

“Let him be.” He whispered, trying to drag Crowley away from the scene. 

“He hurt you.” He grumbled in response, trying to shake Aziraphale’s hands off. 

“It was a snowball.” Aziraphale said, his grip tightening. “Let him be.” 

“God hates you!” The man clamoured. He was beginning to attract a crowd. Crowley clenched his teeth, Aziraphale desperately pulling at his arm now. 

“More than you could ever imagine!” Crowley shouted back, tilting his glasses down, giving the man a good look at his yellow eyes. He grinned when he saw a look of utter terror appear on the man’s features. 

“Stop it.” Aziraphale pleaded, dragging Crowley away with all his might, leading him into the dark space between two booths. 

“Don’t you think that was rather unnecessary?” He wanted to know, letting go of him again. Crowley crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

“He insulted you.” He answered defensively. Aziraphale rolled his eyes. 

“It was one guy. And there are worse insults” He said. Crowley shrugged in response, turning his head so he couldn’t see the accusing look on his face. 

“I still don’t like it when people insult you.” He scoffed after a second of tense silence. 

“And I don’t like it when you go off on people like that for one childish insult.” Aziraphale replied. “You’re going to get yourself in trouble for something like that.” 

“Sorry.” Crowley muttered after another moment of silence. He uncrossed his arms and turned towards Aziraphale again. 

“It’s alright.” He said, smiling softly. He took Crowley’s hands in his. “Let’s go home. I’ll make you a cup of tea. You must be freezing by now.” 

“The teacups.” Crowley hissed when he remembered the sound of porcelain shattering on the ground. 

“You mean these?” Aziraphale asked, letting go of his hands, pulling the miraculously whole set of teacups out of the pockets of his coat. 

“I thought miracling things was lazy?” Crowley asked as he followed Aziraphale, who was already stepping back onto the main road of the market. The angel only chuckled in response. 

  


  


**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I have no idea how I managed to make this so long. They're just ice skating?? Anyway I hope you enjoyed this.  
> As always, if you find any grammar/spelling mistakes please let me know in the comments. 
> 
> (PS: For anyone interested, I'm working on the Prequel for "You'll Always Feel Like Home" right now.)
> 
> Edit: The wonderful [pawn_of_pawns](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pawn_of_pawns/pseuds/pawn_of_pawns) did a fanart for this fic: You can find it [here](http://fav.me/dcv9rgc)


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